Hercules Hernandez
Hernandez debuted in the WWF in 1985, managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie. His first major national exposure came when he competed at WrestleMania 2 in a losing effort against Ricky Steamboat. Blassie would soon retire, in storyline terms selling his stable to Slick. Hernandez soon found himself floundering in the WWF midcard. In late-1986, however, his contract was "sold" to Bobby Heenan. Soon after, he would drop "Hernandez" from his ringname, began carrying a long steel chain to the ring, and re-emerge with a visibly changed, more-muscular physique. On the November 26, 1986 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Hercules received a highly hyped shot at the WWF World Heavyweight Title, facing champion Hulk Hogan. Although he was able to put the 305 lb. Hogan in the "Hercules Backbreaker" torture rack, he came up short in what was arguably the biggest match of his wrestling career. Also in the fall of 1986, Hercules would start a feud with Billy Jack Haynes. Both men at the time were using the full-nelson submission hold as their finisher. Heenan on an episode of WWF Challenge, called out Haynes saying he'd like to see him get out of Hercules' version of the hold. Haynes promptly answered the challenge and was waiting for Hercules to apply the hold when Heenan appeared to have second thoughts. Haynes grew tired of the charade and shoved Heenan. This gave Hercules the opening he needed and he clotheslined Haynes. Haynes was unable to defend himself and Hercules slapped the full nelson on and maintained the hold until Haynes passed out. This incident set the stage for their match at Wrestlemania III. The momentum swung back and forth throughout the contest until Haynes attempted to apply the full nelson and both men tumbled to the floor. Haynes applied the full-nelson on the floor as both men were counted out. Heenan broke the hold by driving a knee the back of Haynes, who then turned his attention to Heenan, allowing Hercules to hit him in the head with his steel chain wrapped around his fist. Haynes bled profusely. The feud culminated some weeks later in a chain match that saw Hercules as the victor. In the early part of 1988, during an episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Hercules was swinging his chain in the direction of The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior caught the chain, and the two began a tug of war, which led to the steel chain snapping at the middle. The broadcast commentators gave credit to the Warrior for snapping the chain, to the chagrin of Hercules and Heenan. This led to their match at WrestleMania IV, which ended with Warrior pinning Hercules after pushing off from the turnbuckle while in Hercules' full nelson and landing on top of him. During the fall of 1988, Bobby Heenan sold Hercules' contract to “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase; DiBiase claimed that in Hercules, he had now purchased his own slave. This comment angered Hercules, who stated that he was owned by no man and turned face to feud with DiBiase. The two were on opposite teams at Survivor Series 1988 where DiBiase eliminated his Hercules from the contest but Hercules distracted Dibiase long enough to be eliminated by WWF World Champion Randy Savage moments later. After the feud with Dibiase ended, Hercules had a series of matches with ”King” Haku. Despite pinning Haku at WrestleMania V, he did not become “King”. Hercules’ career stalled following his feud with Haku. He was mainly used to help push the latest heels such as The Earthquake, who squashed him at WrestleMania VI. In the summer of 1990, Hercules turned heel alongside Paul Roma and the two formed Power and Glory, managed by Slick. They had a high profile feud with The Rockers, defeating them at SummerSlam '90 in Philadelphia and challenged WWF World Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation. Yet, despite the fact that the two worked well together as a team, they were never given the opportunity to cement themselves as serious players in the tag team division. When the Legion of Doom squashed them in 59 seconds at WrestleMania VII, it was evident to fans that the team was not destined for greatness. After SummerSlam 1991, Roma left the WWF. Hercules spent the rest of his time in the WWF jobbing again, losing to wrestlers such as the Big Boss Man and Sid Justice, and then Intercontinental champion Bret Hart. His last televised WWF match was against Sid Justice at MSG where he was squashed in under a minute. Hercules lasted nearly forty minutes in the 1991 Royal Rumble. In 1992, he lasted less than a minute. Hernandez passed away on March 6, 2004. Category:Current Alumni Category:Deceased Category:Slammy Award Winners